Take World War II, a village in Wales, a farm girl who works part-time as a barmaid while keeping house for her widowed father. Add a German POW, a half- Jewish German intelligence officer, a passel of child evacuees from British cities, and the animosity of the Welsh towards the Brits. Then weave a tale. Davies learned of wartime wales from his father who grew up there. The plot is minimal, the characters strong. Young Esther, raped and pregnant; Karsten, the German who surrendered; Rotheram, considered Jewish in his native Germany, but just doesn’t feel it having lost his father young and been raised by his Christian mom. The writing skips along. Good book. [2/08]